Hi. If you choose to use curcumin, I would like to know what brand you use and where do you purchase it? Do you use the type that includes bioperine? Bioperine is derived from black pepper, correct? And what amount of curcumin do you take on a daily basis? Do you just take it with your other vitamins and supplements? Thank you.

Consumer Labs, founded by an ex-FDA chemist, reviews supplements in a harsh way for dosage and purity. Those curcumin products tested satisfactorily for the combination and strength that you want can be price shopped. Also Margaret's Corner, a survivor site on multiple myeloma, primarily using high dose curcumin, is extremely interesting.

I used to take a BCM-95 curcumin formulation, since I believe I read that it was the formulation that was used in one or more studies on colon cancer effectiveness, with high bioavailability. I personally took one pill per day (not sure the mgs), though who knows what the ideal dose would be. I should probably still be taking it prophylactically, but haven't for a couple years now.

To be honest I also have curcumin from brands that use BCM-95, C3, and "curcumin with bioperine" formulations; i cycle through the lot of them during the week, what can i say, i am a little mental and wanted to cover all my bases.

You wrote:If you choose to use curcumin, I would like to know what brand you use and where do you purchase it? Do you use the type that includes bioperine? Bioperine is derived from black pepper, correct? And what amount of curcumin do you take on a daily basis? Do you just take it with your other vitamins and supplements? Thank you..

I''m a caregiver that has been advised by my health professional to take both Curcumin and Resveratrol. As I have read that both can be of benefit for someone with colon cancer (see Ref examples below),I tried, as soon as DH got the diagnose, to motivate him to also take it. So far he has not been interested It is of course(!) his decision but I think I will try one more time to present research info to him again later.

I buy the products through a company in UK (I live in Europe), but I believe they order direct from the links/company above. Note: They only sell (most of?) Apex Energetics products to you if you have a health professional you 'go to'.On my bottle of Turmero it says: " Amounts per serving (5ml)Proprietary Blend 420mgTurmeric Extract (root) (standardized to 95% curcuminoids)Black Peppar Extract (fruit)"I take 5ml of the Turmero (+5ml of the Resvero) in a glass of water, before breakfast. With breakfast I take a few other supplements - a probiotic, some B-vitamins and a joint health product.

kiwiinoz wrote:I have a simple question. What is the difference between taking curcumin supplements, as compared to actually having turmeric powder?

CRguy wrote:concentration, bioavailability and purity of the active ingredients .....

sorry .... in the exec summary mode right now got some fires to put out, elsewhere with my forum duties

Kiwi, I will try to answer your question while CRguy, our fearless Zen leader, is off battling forum goblins !

The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, which is about 2 to 9 percent of turmeric so not very much. The percentage of curcumin varies based on the species, where it is grown, processing (when turmeric rhizomes are heated to produce powder, there is a loss of curcumin), and purity. Adulteration by way of heavy metals, added colors and other contaminants can also be a problem with some turmeric powders (always buy organic). That's not to say turmeric isn't good for you. It is, but in order to achieve a potent, medically advantageous amount, you'd need to consume quite a bit of it every day. Moreover, curcumin supplements have higher absorption/bioavailability, especially when combined with piperine, so you get a lot more impact.

MSKCC has this to say about turmeric and curcumin:

Turmeric: The active constituents are turmerone oil and water-soluble curcuminoids, mainly curcumin which is the focus of most research. In vitro studies suggest that curcumin, the principal bioactive ingredient of turmeric, acts as a weak phytoestrogen (1), and exhibits neuroprotective (2), choleretic (3), anti-inflammatory (4), immunomodulatory (5), anti-proliferative (3), and chemopreventive effects (6) (7) (8). Curcumin, its analogs, and liposomal formulations have also produced chemosensitizing (9) (10) (11) and radiosensitizing effects (12) (13).

Scroll down to the "For Health Care Professionals" section of the webpage and then look under "Clinical Summary" and you'll see all known benefits of tumeric/curcumin.

And here's a great article from the University of Maryland Medical Center about turmeric/curcumin with dosage amounts for turmeric root/powder versus curcumin caps. Check the precaution section to make sure nothing applies to you.

Hi Juliej and CRguyYou guys deal with the FDA (or whatever the Canadian equivalent is CRGuy) but we deal with the TGA (therapeutic goods Administration) which essentially stipulates that the industry is self regulating. Thus we can happily look at the levels of proposed Curcumin in supplements) and know that it is maybe +/- 20% on what is listed.I have 3 brands of suppliments that I stock up on depending what brand of curcumin is doing a sale at that time, but I also eat Curry 2-3 times a week, and add lost of Turmeric(organically grown roots) into each curry, I do salads 5 week days a week and put a lot of turmeric (Organic) powder into each curry with a lot of black pepper.I guess it does me no harm, helps reduce inflammation (10 hours + per week of exercise) and I have still got Psoriasis so I am trying to avoid Rheumatoid Arthritis (which I have felt in my in my left hand for about 2 years).Let us say that I am hedging my bets.Thanks, appreciate the studies, and love reading them.Kiwi